Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison lived in East Orange, New Jersey. In the late 1800s, he was working on his favorite invention called the phonograph. When he heard about Pierre Meissonier's Zoetrope, he assigned his 24-year-old assistant named William Dixon with the task of creating a machine that would act as a visual complement to his phonograph.

Together they created a prototype for the picture machine, but could not come up with the correct material for the pictures to be displayed on. After two years, Edison heard about the flexible film base that was covered with photographic emulsion designed by George Eastman. After Edison purchased a sample, he realized that they had found the solution to their dilemma. They made a working machine.

Although Edison invented the movie machine, he did not feel that motion pictures would attract much public attention so he designed a machine where only one person...